The Cost to Park Your Car……in Hong Kong

And we thought parking was expensive here in the U.S. If you have a car in Hong Kong, you have to buy a space to park it.

According to CNN Money, a single space in a residential neighborhood on Hong Kong Island went for 4.24 million Hong Kong dollars ($547,000), making it the most expensive parking space ever sold in the territory.

The quirky market is being driven by a combination of factors: Low supply, high demand, and speculators who view parking spaces as a potentially lucrative investment opportunity.

“I am surprised how much interest there is on the market about buying and selling parking spaces,” said KK Wong of Hong Kong City Parking. “Five years back, nobody would even be asking.”

With land at a premium, most Hong Kong homes don’t come with a driveway or garage, and even luxury apartment buildings don’t always offer car parking. The result is a total of 683,000 parking spots for a population that exceeds 7 million.